 Down count on that power! Good afternoon everyone. Today I'd like to talk about some of the measures that we are taking to soften the blow the coronavirus has dealt to young people at such an important time in their lives. I will talk in a moment about the arrangements we are putting in place with our universities around the Christmas holidays. But first of all, you will know that yesterday I made an announcement on GCSEs, AS and A Levels, as well as giving an update on vocational qualifications. As this is such an important announcement for those involved, I'd like to take this opportunity to summarise our plans. Following the recommendations from the independent review and qualifications Wales, I have taken the policy decision that there should be no end of your exams for learners taking GCSEs, AS level and A levels approved by qualifications Wales. Instead we will work with schools to take forward teacher managed assessments and these should include assessments that will be externally set and marked but delivered within a classroom environment under teacher supervision. I intend that these will inform centre based outcomes linked to an agreed national approach to provide consistency across Wales. Cansalling exams will create additional time for teaching and learning to continue throughout the summer term to build the knowledge, skills and confidence in our learners so that they can progress to their next steps. I am providing clarity and certainty at an early stage as we possibly can and to set out a path that we believe is deliverable and crucially is as resilient as possible to the uncertainties of COVID-19 and of the coming year. This is an exceptional year but it's exceptional in different ways to qualifications in 2020. This year's exam cohorts were not only out of school and college during the summer term but they have already experienced inconsistencies in their learning experience this autumn term. This remains a highly challenging year for education and I hope this approach will help remove pressures from learners and provide clear time for teaching and learning. I'd now like to turn to universities and arrangements for the Christmas holidays. Christmas and the winter holidays are an important time for many families and it is especially important if you're living away from home. Christmas may be one of the few times in any year when you can spend time with the people closest to you. We've been working closely with our university sector to agree a set of principles that will allow all students living in term time accommodation to travel home for the holidays if they wish to do so at the end of the current term. To make this possible we have agreed three measures to enable Welsh universities to manage this movement at the end of term as safely as possible. Firstly universities will conclude the majority of in-person teaching in the week leading up to the 8th of December. There will of course be some exceptions such as medical students and trainee teachers on placements. We're asking students who are planning to travel to make arrangements to move from their term time accommodation by the 9th of December at the late test. Secondly we are working with our universities to sign up to a new asymptomatic mass testing pilot to explore the use of new lateral flow devices. These tests enable quicker results and can test large numbers of people finding positive cases faster and preventing and reducing transmission in the community including the huge community of university staff who work tirelessly to support the sector at this time. We are working with our universities to roll out the pilot before the end of term and we would encourage students and staff if they want to to sign up for the asymptomatic testing to give added reassurance around returning home and spending time with loved ones at the end of term. And thirdly we are will be asking students who wish to return home to follow a simple set of guidelines. These will help students consider what they should do and allow them to take actions based on their individual circumstances. Students, indeed all of us must first and foremost follow Welsh Government guidelines. Let me be clear no one should travel if they have symptoms, a positive test or if they have been asked to self isolate by a contact tracer. Of course many people from Wales will be studying in universities elsewhere in the United Kingdom and over the last few weeks and months I've worked with my counterparts in other governments to coordinate our approaches and I'm sure that families across Wales will welcome the announcement by other governments to ensure that Welsh students studying in other parts of the United Kingdom can return home safely. We will also be communicating directly with those Welsh students outside of Wales to welcome them home and remind them about how they can keep themselves safe when they do so. I'm also greatly encouraged that we are seeing a steady decline in our cases at university. Evidence shows transmission is not taking place in teaching and learning environments and universities are operating COVID secure campuses. Our universities have also agreed to develop a phased exit from campus and university towns to reduce pressure on public transport and travel infrastructure. The need to balance people's rights and support their well-being with the desire to protect our families, friends and communities from the risk of infection remains very challenging and I'm grateful to our universities for their for their staff and their students for their very positive engagement on these difficult issues. Before I take questions from our colleagues in the media I want to repeat something that the First Minister and the Health Minister have been saying. The rules alone will not keep us safe from coronavirus. It is our actions that will keep us safe and this is particularly important for our student body. Now I know that students will want to make the most of their university experiences in all regards and especially in the run-up to Christmas. But if we are going to slow the spread of coronavirus and keep it under control in the weeks ahead we all need to look at our lives and see what changes we can make to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe. Diolch yn fawr i chi gyd. I now will turn to questions from our colleagues in the media and I understand today we are starting off with Bethan Lewis at BBC Wales. Good afternoon Bethan. Good afternoon. Could I ask you first of all about the testing of university students and what will the scale of that be? Will any student that wants a test be able to get one or will it be limited to priority groups and areas? Well we're working as quickly as we can with our universities to establish those testing facilities. Universities have signed up to that programme of course Cardiff University already have their own asymptomatic testing programme. Tests will be available to staff and students who want them but certainly we would encourage students to think about perhaps their own circumstances if they're going home to a family where there are particular risk factors but we hope to offer as many tests as possible and we hope that those will start in the next couple of weeks. Can I ask you about the announcement yesterday about the summer exams? How is it possible for you to claim that you are offering certainty and clarity when most of the detail of the alternative arrangements is still to be worked out and there are a lot of confused teachers and pupils out there? What would you say to them? Well let me be absolutely clear at Bethan. Head of the announcement yesterday we were asking our students and our teachers to ride two horses. That's certainly the feedback that they gave to me, working towards exams but knowing that with such an unpredictable public health scenario those exams could be cancelled at any minute and therefore being confused about which pieces of work may be required to be presented if we move to a different set of arrangements. By making the decision yesterday to cancel exams we can now turn the entire weight of the education system into developing the very fine details of our centre-based approach to awarding grades but Bethan you will have read the independent reviews report about the lessons we can learn from 2020 and they were very clear that the details of the system couldn't be imposed upon schools in a way that they suggested perhaps we made a mistake last year. They have to be co-constructed therefore we've set up the design and delivery group which will be meeting tomorrow to begin that work but I've been very clear we'll move to a centre-based approach. An important part of that will be externally set and externally marked assessments set in the classroom and they will help guide a centre-based approach to awarding grades. We now move to Adrian, Adrian Masters at ITV. Good afternoon Adrian. Afternoon Minister, can you say what will happen in January? Will similar arrangements be put in place for students return? Well Adrian some of the tools that we are invoking to allow students to return home safely will of course form part of our consideration to enable a safe return to campus after the Christmas holidays and we continue to work with our universities and administrations across the United Kingdom to finalise those details. Those talks continue but we're very much looking not only to sending students home safely before Christmas but welcome them back to university after the holidays. Can you also say what support there will be for students who test positive and have to self-isolate and not go home? Well clearly the the importance of the dates that we've talked about today allow a student to complete a period of quarantine if they were tested and still be able to return home before Christmas Eve. That's why we have agreed with the universities to amend the way in which they're delivering courses at the moment to create that opportunity so that nobody gets stuck but clearly if someone are right at the end of that period you know does test positive or is asked to self-isolate because they may have been a contact there is enough time built into this scenario to allow them to do that safely and then return home at the end of that period. Thank you Adrian. We now go to Abbey Whittig at Wales online. Good afternoon and just going back to exams and assessments I wondered what kind of conditions will those assessments be taken under and what will happen to the students who might be self-isolating or ill during that assessment period? You've taken exams away but that problem is still there. Yes it is Abbey and that's why we are allowing as much flexibility as possible for schools to be able to undertake these assessments in a timescale that is right for them and their students and we can put additional arrangements in place if we find ourselves with students having to self-isolate at that moment so that's why we need to move away from exams and create a much more flexible system so that we can account for those kinds of scenarios. Okay and on students you've just said that you're still finalising plans for coming back next term they're being asked to leave their student accommodation early they've not had the kind of experience they were led to expect even though they knew it would be different is it time to give them a rent rebate and also a rebate on tuition fees will you be asking universities to look at that? I appreciate Abbey that the experience this term has been a challenging one in many many in many ways but at this stage we don't have plans to ask universities to do either of those things working closely with universities to ensure that we're at all possible we can maximise face-to-face teaching and many universities have have done that successfully in a COVID secure way but no no plans at this stage. Can we go to Dan Bevan at LBC? Thank you Minister. Good afternoon. Can I start by asking about the Christmas announcement that you've made today? When will students be allowed to start going home? Will there be a period like there is in England a travel window as it's being called? Is that going to coincide when the testing centres are set up and when will that be as well? Well Dan as I said in my statement we would expect in-person teaching to finish in the week leading up to the 8th of December and then students be able to make arrangements at that time to return home if that is what they wish to do so and we have agreement across universities that they will amend how they're delivering their provision to allow that to happen. So just to clarify if a student wanted to go home tomorrow then they could and if I could ask a question on exams as well touching on what Abbey just asked though if there is a situation around exam time when a level class might need to self-isolate or a whole bubble what provisions are going to be put in place? Well as I said Dan the system that we've introduced provides maximum flexibility that's one of the reasons why we've moved away from exams from exams being set on a specific day when children and students across the nation flood into those gymnasiums and halls and all sit down and turn that paper over at exactly the same time. We have to recognise that we need to give schools maximum flexibility in the way in which they are able to undertake the externally set assessments to be able to account for situations as you describe. My apologies minister but are students going to be allowed to go home tomorrow if they wish? Oh tomorrow if they wish well actually as I said universities continue to provide face-to-face teaching so we are asking students to stay put to continue to engage in their learning but we've agreed with the universities that that provision will change in the first week of December thus allowing students to go home but I was encouraged students to stay where they are at the moment and crucially to follow the Welsh government guidelines by limiting their contacts thus keeping themselves and the people that they live with as safe as possible. I believe now we're moving to Adam Hale at PA. Thank you minister good afternoon. There have been doubts about the accuracy of these rapid lateral tests when testing people that are asymptomatic. Are you aware of those? So what is being done to help make sure that the virus is picked up in students who don't have symptoms? Well the lateral flow tests have been verified we wouldn't be using them or encouraging students to get an asymptomatic test if we had concerns about their accuracy. So we're confident that they provide a really useful tool to be able to provide extra assurance for those students or staff who are looking to travel to other parts of the United Kingdom to be with family over the Christmas period. Thank you and will there be any sort of extra enforcement with student testing to make sure that those who do leave the country are taking a test and those who have tested positive do self-isolate for those 14 days before travelling? Well let me be clear with regards to asymptomatic testing we can't force people to take a test we're providing that availability for them so that they can make a positive choice if they feel that that is right to them but they will not be forced to take a test. With regards to those individuals who are showing symptoms of coronavirus we absolutely urge them to go and get themselves tested and also then to abide by a period of quarantine whether they have a positive test themselves or whether they have been advised to self-isolate from one of our contact tracers we really need people to abide by those rules to keep themselves and other people safe at this particular time and that's regardless of whether you're a student or whether you are just a citizen living here in Wales. Now going to the Daily Post and Andrew Forgrave. Good afternoon Andrew. Good afternoon Minister thank you very much. You've said that the decision to cancel next year's exams in Wales was to ensure fairness for students. Should first level playing field now be extended to England to ensure complete fairness to students on both sides of the border? Well Andrew that is above my pay grade in the sense that I have responsibility for students here within the Welsh system. Other jurisdictions will make different decisions. I've been very clear that my preference was for the exams to go ahead but I cannot ignore the reality of the situation that students and teachers have found themselves in. There have been parts of Wales where education has been disrupted in a small way I think of my own children very lucky not to have been asked to self-isolate during this period but you'll be aware in north Wales of entire cohorts of children in those crucial exam years that have been out to school for two weeks sometimes if they've been unlucky out to four weeks and it's simply not fair to ask those students to undertake an examination system where the disruption already has been significant and we cannot predict the future so it's only fair for our students that we have taken this decision given the disruption and the variability of that disruption across across our nation. Thank you Minister. Just away from education just for a moment, Minister May, will the Welsh Government consider testing wild mink populations in Wales for the mink variants of Covid-19? Well I have to admit I'm not aware of any plans to test wild mink. I can imagine that might be a logistically very very challenging and difficult to do but clearly we are aware of the situation in Denmark and the potential threat of a mutated form of Covid-19 arriving out of out of mink that may be crossing into the human population and that's why we've taken the decisions we have with regards to advice from people travelling from Denmark. Thank you very much Adrian and now we're going to Nathan Shusmith at the speaker. Good afternoon. Have transport operators been involved in the decision to advise all students to travel home over the few days between teaching ending and the 9th of December? Is there a risk that mass student migration could overwhelm the system and bring the risks of Covid transmission if people decide not to get tested? Well it's really important that we will be working with universities and have agreed the principle that they should look to arrange a staggered departure from university campuses and towns to avoid the situation that you have just described and we've been working across the UK as well as within the government here in Wales so for instance with Grant Shaps in the Westminster government to understand the pressures that could be put on the public transport system that's why we're asking students in universities to work towards a staggered departure. Thank you and just on that before we move on to the same question, will students have to follow that staggered approach? Obviously it is quite short notice for students to try and arrange stuff. Some students rely on employment and have to stay and they invest the areas till a certain date. Will they have to follow that or may do as they please? Also you've talked about in schools teaching being able to continue through the summer term due to exams being cancelled. Do you envisage school students staying in throughout the summer term or would they still be finishing early as if they were doing a normal exam period? Well first of all in this situation the government can provide the best advice to students and it's impossible to be able to cover in every individual scenario. If students aren't in a position to leave their university accommodation on the 90th of December on the lead up to the 90th of December there are individual circumstances that stop them from doing that then obviously there's nothing that the government will do to prevent it. But it is about the message to all of us at this time is to think about what are the right things to do for me and my family? How can I manage the risk? There may be some students for instance that would want to do a lay low period in their university accommodation before returning home. There may be students because of the nature of their course cannot return home to a slightly later date so it is about giving the students the best advice that we can, the information that we can and the assurance of developing lateral flow testing so that they can manage their risks appropriately. With regards to the summer term it would be my hope that we can really really focus on positive teaching and learning experiences for children given the fact that their education has been so disrupted. So it would be really great rather than using that summer term solely for the purpose that we have in the past of doing formal examinations but to really really help students to continue to develop that skills and knowledge and confidence that might have been disrupted so that they can be in a really good place to move on to the next stage and then that's a really important message that we've received from children and young people during this time is they want to be able to concentrate on teaching and learning and not be spending their time cramming for an exam that may or may not happen so this does indeed give us more time to focus on teaching and learning. Thank you. Thank you and we're going to the leader and Andrew Nettall. Thank you minister. Obviously we've said this in the past that Welsh Government doesn't have a crystal ball, you can't predict the future as far ahead as you'd like but are you confident in these measures that they will work and obviously in the reverse when students will have to make the return trip to come back to Wales, the universities? Well Andrew you know where we're having to manage a whole series of firsts aren't we during this pandemic. We are using the best advice and science and public health knowledge and information that we have to guide these decisions. We've been able to agree a process across the United Kingdom so that we can coordinate that, the advice that we've received is universal across the UK so we believe that we've come up with the the best possible solution to this very challenging circumstances that we find ourselves in but clearly we will reflect on that and any lessons learnt from this end of this academic year we will incorporate that into our thinking about a return in January and indeed potentially you know looking forward to the Easter holidays and the summer so we'll be using this indeed and any lessons learnt they'll be incorporated into future policy. Thank you and a lot of the messages that we're giving today are mainly directed at students but in the past we have said obviously students have moved into a wider community and so they will also have this responsibility to make sure that this is something that can happen for them and so what would your message be sort of to the wider communities where some of the universities are based to help the students get home for Christmas? Well as I said in my opening statement I'm really pleased to see that we've seen a decrease in the rates of infection in our university population and that's really really pleasing to see and that's as a result of students doing the hard graft and making the right choices to keep themselves and their fellow students safe and my message to any community is please follow the Welsh government rules I understand that it is really tough we've all had a gutsful haven't we to be honest and we want things to get back to normal but the the best way of getting back to normal more quickly is by following the rules now sticking with it even when you know every instinct of you wants to do something different so my message to communities is please stick with it potentially we've seen this week that there is light at the end of the tunnel it's early days yet but surely that promise of hope for the future gives us an opportunity to to double down now and do the right thing now knowing that something potentially exciting could happen soon but please follow the rules keep yourself keep your families your friends and your community safe and last but not least we're going to Harry Pettigrew at Atrium News Harry thank you minister can you clarify whether these isolation methods mainly apply to Welsh students living in England or do students living in student accommodation in Wales have to solve all of the same protocols what we're talking about today are for students who are resident here in Wales you'll be aware of announcements made by colleagues in other administrations so what I would say to a Welsh student who is studying and living at the moment in Scotland or England please abide by the rules that those nations have put in place and the arrangements that have been put in place here the what we're talking about is advice to students that are studying here whether they be returning to a home address in Wales or whether they be looking to return to addresses and other parts of the United Kingdom at the end of the academic here here in Wales and thank you and another question what support will you will be offered for students suffering with mental health issues if they are told to remain in student accommodation well we would only anticipate that students would be required to remain in student accommodation if they are themselves in receipt of a COVID-19 positive test or they have been identified as a close contact by our TTP team if that is the case they should isolate for 14 days and universities have been supporting students throughout this academic year who have had to do that the arrangements that we're waking in place here is that that gives there is a there is an opportunity there is a gap there that if you need to do that you will still be able to complete your quarantine and be able to get home by Christmas Eve but you should only be required to stay if you're in those circumstances there may be some students for particular personal reasons who want to stay on campus over Christmas and not return at all they should make themselves known to their universities and the universities will be in a position to support them if that's the best if that's the choice that an individual student makes thank you well I think that brings us to the end of this afternoon's press conference and once again thank you very much for your time and attention Diolch yn fawr i am